Combination supporting garment and hosiery



May 3, 1966 H. T. BRYAN COMBINATION SUPPORTING GARMENT AND HOSIERY FiledFeb. 19, 1964 mvwo HENRY T. BRYAN FIG. 4

1 I aff.

ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,249,110 COMBINATION SUPPORTING GARMENTAND HOSIERY Henry Thomas Bryan, Lookout Mountain, Tenn., assignor toBeautiful Bryans, Inc., Chattanooga, Tenn. Filed Feb. 19, 1964, Ser. No.345,952 1 Claim. (Cl. 128-519) This invention relates to apparelespecially that worn by the distaff side of the family, wholly or partlyvisible or concealed, and regardless of whether for protection, supportor contour modification, as a thermal barrier, for the appearance andcomfort of the wearer, or for various other reasons.

The invention relates particularly to a panty girdle or foundationgarment and to hosiery of a specific character which overlaps suchgarment and with the contacting portions of the panty girdle and hosieryof a character that the hosiery will be held in fully extended positionby the panty girdle at all times while worn regardless of the sitting,standing, or other posture of the wearer;

Heretofore hosiery has been held up by garters, fasteners of variouskinds and other devices which created considerable bulk and wereuncomfortable as well as marred the appearance. A solution to theproblem of preventing stockings or hosiery from slipping downwardly,from a normal to a lower unsightly and consequently lesscomfortable andserviceable position, has been sought for a long time, especially sincehosiery has been manufactured from nylon or other synthetic fibers. Oneof the reasons it has not been possible to maintain hosiery in fullyextended position on the wearer has been due to the fact that it has nothad appreciable lengthwise stretch and consequently when the wearerchanged posture the gravitation or downward movement of the stockingsoccurred.

It is an object of the invention to provide a panty girdle and hosierywith contacting portions of appropriate character, materials andconstruction to obtain a desired coaction or aflinity therebetweenwhereby the hosiery will be maintained in the desired extended position.

Another object of the invention is to provide hosiery of greaterlengthwise stretch and a panty girdle or foundation garment with amultiple track or with multiple rubber or elastic ribs which will engageand maintain the hosiery in proper extended position regardless of theposture of the wearer.

A further object of the invention is to provide a panty girdle orfoundation garment and hosiery of a greater lengthwise stretch tounderliethe lower edge of the panty girdle and be held in extendedposition with the overlapping portions of a perfectly rounded smooth fitand contour, devoid of clips, snaps, hooks, garters or other fasteners,supports, or objects of bulk which not only would be uncomfortable tothe wearer but would mar the appearance.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from thefollowing description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawingin which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective illustrating the invention in use;

FIG. 2, a similar view of an article of hosiery of the characterutilized;

FIG. 3, a view illustrating the stretchability of the article of hosieryof FIG. 2;

FIG. 4, a perspective of a panty girdle incorporating multiple-trackholding structure of the character for holding the hosiery of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5, an enlarged fragmentary perspective illustrating theconfiguration of the interior of the multiple-track holding structure;and,

FIG. 6, a view illustrating the stretchability of the tripletrackelastic holding structure.

thetic substances and of an elastic character and with rela tively longdepending leg portions. Around the interior of each of such leg portionsare located multiple ribs or bands or a multiple track of rubber orelastic material designed for direct contact and constricting engagementwith hose of stretch yarn, of natural or synthetic character sometimesreferred to in the trade as Agilon or the like. The engagement of themultiple ribs or track with the hosiery of greater longitudinalelasticity allows for continuous engagement between the panty girdle andthe hosiery due to the fact that the hosiery can stretch adequately uponthe bending of the legs and the body.

With continued reference to the drawing, a panty girdle or foundationgarment is provided having a body portion 10 and a pair of relativelylong legs 11 all of conventional construction. Preferably, thefoundation garment is manufactured of natural and synthetic materialssuch as .nylon, rayon, Lycra-Spandex or the like having elasticcharacteristics which can be stretched in multiple directions asillustrated in FIG. 4, although cotton or other material may be used.

The lower extremities of the legs are sewn or otherwise connected tobands 14 (FIGS. 1 and 4) of a knitted or woven construction of a one-waystretch type so that they may expand or contract transversely for theusual purpose of adjusting to the size of the legs of the wearer withsubstantially no stretchability lengthwise.

As illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6 each of the bands 14 has a plurality ofinwardly extending spaced ribs or tracks 12 of elastic thread or yarnwhich projects inwardly of the bands regardless of the stretch conditionthereof. The inwardly projecting ribs or tracks are adapted tofrictionally engage the upper portions of a pair of hosiery 13.

The hosiery 13 includes a foot portion, leg portion and thigh portion ofa continuous stitch and without a welt portion as shown in FIGS. 2 and3. Such hosiery preferably is constructed of highly stretchablenylon-like yarn known as Agilon or Fiber H having an aflinity to theelastic material of the track 12. The Agilon yarn which has the basiccharacteristics of nylon is drawn over a sharp blade while still warm tocause the yarn to curl and thereby difierentiate from conventional nylonwhich looks like a continuous single thread. These curls provide agentle but permanent stretch which permits the hosiery to be stretchedlengthwise as well as transversely. Due to the stretchability of thehosiery,'the ribs or tracks 12 will grip the hosiery with sufiicientforce that the hosiery will be held in place since any stretching causedby the flexing of the knees or other joints of the wearer will beabsorbed by the lengthwise stretchability of the hosiery. Since nogarters or other sharp edges engage the hosiery a welt portion at thetop of the hosiery is not necessary and therefore the hosiery is ofcontinuous material and design from the foot portion to'the top of thehosiery.

A wearer first will put on the hose and then the panty girdle whereuponthe ribs 12 in the lower extremities of the leg portions thereof willengage the upper portions of the hosiery with suflicient pressure tomaintain the hosiery extended at all times regardless of the posture ofthe wearer including movement from one posture to another involving thebending of the knees and the hips as well as the twisting of the body ofthe wearer.

It will be apparent from the foregoing that the present inventionprovides a panty girdle or foundation garment with hosiery holdingmultiple longitudinally stretchable ribs or tracks in the lowerextremities for gripping hosiery, and hosiery of sufiicient lengthwisestretchability to allow Patented May 3, 1965 Q bending of the leg jointsof the wearer, the foundation garment affording slimming supportingaction to the body of the wearer resulting in a perfect fit with round,smooth, firm contour and maximum comfort, and without annoyingappearance-marrin g bulkiness which would result from the use of snaps,hooks, clips, garters or other fasteners .or supports for maintainingthe hosiery in position at all times. 1

It will be obvious to one skilled in the art that various changes may bemade in the invention without departing from the spirit and scopethereof and therefore the invention is not limited by that which isillustrated in the drawing and described in the specification, but onlyas indicated in the accompanying claim.

What is claimed is:

In a foundation garment having a body portion and a pair of legportions, and constructed of material having elastic characteristicswhich can be stretched in multiple directions, and of the type adaptedto support hosiery, the

improvement comprising a band connected to the lower extremities of eachof said leg portions, said bands being stretchable only in a transversedirection, a plurality of inwardly extending elastic threads carried byeach band, each of said bands adapted to overlie a portion of saidhosiery, and said elastic threads frictionally engage said hosiery andprovide the sole support thereof.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,300,153 10/1942 Herbener 128-530 2,343,823 3/1944 Vogt et a1 128-530 2,826,760 3/1958- Rice 2-224 2,977,782 4/1961 Sheek 66-178 3,122,906 3/1964 Crawford66-122 3,154,835 11/1964 Calma et a1 57-157 ADELE M. EAGER, PrimaryExaminer.

